Raid0 and ubuntu (7.10 and 8.04 )

geburah · 04-21-2008, 10:57 AM

Hi all,

I have got two Seagate 500GB in RAID0, in a dual boot box (Ubuntu, WindowsXP)

I have it working under Windows, with the manufacturer's driver and tools. However, in ubuntu it seems it would only work with the kernel 2.6.22.

That rules out teh upgrade happening to ubuntu in three days.

Here the integrated RAID:

VT8237A

Here the ubuntu binary install ( no deb )

http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx...0&SubCatID=143

Here my options as I see it

* Roll back to Ubuntu 7.10 and depend on VIA to realese a driver for 8.04
* Attemp to hack the .run file ( is it possible? I haven't seen where ist gets teh osrelase from )
* Install hardy using a 2.6.22.14-generic kernel? Can I ?
* Extract the module contained in teh initrd inside this package (viamraid.ko ) and somehow try to use it?

* Find out about a possible kernel patch to use this module with latest kernel? I haven't found anything.

In a different order of things, why are these not available as an option at install time?

Is there a RAID ready distribution, that can truly see RAID devices from boot?

Why is this matter so obscure?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Emerson · 04-22-2008, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Is there a RAID ready distribution, that can truly see RAID devices from boot?
Why is this matter so obscure?

I'm not a fan of dmraid myself, in fact I've never used it. To troubleshoot the problem you need to learn dmraid, keep in mind you do not have a hardware RAID, so blaming Linux for not seeing something that does not exist does not help. The starting point.

Kahless · 04-22-2008, 11:31 PM

I would suggest using linux kernel raid over crappy fake raid.

I use it on several machines with good results.

Or, you may consider using LVM. I havent played with it yet, but it looks like another good solution depending on what you want to accomplish.

geburah · 05-02-2008, 03:51 AM

Hello,

Thanks for replying.

I use LVM in another two machines, with no problem, but that would not give me performance, it would just give me a big logical volume.

Why do you think it is fake raid?

Because of this? and, if so, what does it mean? It is not good raid?

I have it now working with Windows, but what I want is doble boot as I did before, so I need to use teh propietary drivers in both systems, which exist:

VT8237A

http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx...0&SubCatID=143

Now, teh solution exists, I have tried to implement it and gives me a GRUB error 17.

I do not blame Linux, I have use it for more than 8 years now and I do 90% of my work with it, as per I can see I have more experience with it than the people who have replied, giving me teh 'option' of trying something else.

Now, I would appreciate someone's advice on how to solve the GRUB 17 error when double booting, using a fake hardware raid.

Thank you

gtrawoger · 05-03-2008, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

I'm not a fan of dmraid myself, in fact I've never used it. To troubleshoot the problem you need to learn dmraid, keep in mind you do not have a hardware RAID, so blaming Linux for not seeing something that does not exist does not help. The starting point.

I am sorry, but I have to point something out. This has been a grief of mine for a while. I know both Emerson and Kahless wanted to help in some way, but neither must have read the OP question.

Here is a quote from Ubuntu's FakeRAID documentation:

Quote:

Why not use a linux software raid?

If you have arrived here after researching this topic on the Internet, you know that a common response to this question is, "I don't know if you can actually do that, but why bother -- Linux has built-in softRAID capability." Also, it's not clear that there is any performance gain using hardware fakeRAID under Linux instead of the built-in softRAID capability; the CPU still ends up doing the work. The most common reason for using fakeRAID is in a dual-boot environment, where both Linux and Windows must be able to read and write to the same RAID partitions. Multiboot configurations are common among cross-over users trying Linux out, for people forced to use Windows for work, and for other reasons. These people shouldn't have to add a separate hard drive just so they can boot Linux. FakeRAID allows these users to access partitions interchangeably from either Linux or Windows.

I can't really say it better. We want/need to run fakeRAID. We have the capability in Windows. There are drivers to support it under Linux (dmraid).

The obvious next question would be: How can we actually get it to work?

We don't need to hear about "Linux has software RAID inside... blah blah ..." Most of us who dabbled into the whole RAID thing already know that. On my part I have a beautiful RAID-5 setup on two servers, all with Linux RAID.

Fedora Core had the capability to install on fakeRAID since version 4... yes, version 4. And since then I have been looking for a different distro that I liked and would install on my Windows/fakeRAID setup. Like most of those asking for this, I cannot leave Windows behind. I do need it for some things.

Ok, end of rant.

geburah, go here and look at this way of installing your ubuntu on your fakeraid. It does work with Hardy (I have it working.)

ubuntu 7.10 fakeRAID install

The only caveat I can give you right now, when you setup GRUB you need to know which partition your /boot is on. Mine was hd(0,0) since I installed it on the first partition of my RAID and I don't have any other hard drives in my setup.

Hope this helped.

axelraider · 05-03-2008, 05:38 PM

I would like to add, that when it comes to RAID....500GB 7200RPM HDDs are never a good choice. Those drives are nutorious for breaking after 1 - 3 years. I don't know wether its RAID 0 or 1 you have set up.

My Seagate HDDs in Raid Configuration had a problem handling disk thrashing and one of them died on me after just a month.

What the other posters stated could work, but If you want real performance, its good to use a 10K RPM HDD or SCSI HDD in raid, while HDDs like 500GB HDDs make the perfect Archival HDDs out there to be used with external kits.